When I hear this song, I think of Joe South delivering a Sunday sermon on Southern philosophy. It was on the AM radio growing up, and I remember it well. This one and Games People Play were the two South songs I heard the most.
This song is a little bit of everything with pop, gospel, country, and soul. Before his solo success, South had already built a reputation that most session players would love to have. He played guitar on Aretha Franklin’s Chain of Fools, wrote Billy Joe Royal’s Down in the Boondocks, and later wrote his own solo hit, Games People Play, which was a Grammy-winning anthem of its own. Joe South was Georgia guy who would write songs that people could relate to. His records were smart, soulful, and unafraid to say something.
Elvis Presley covered this song during his 1970 That’s the Way It Is concerts, giving it his full Vegas-gospel jumpsuit treatment, which helped carry Joe’s song to the mainstream. Everyone from Coldcut to Bryan Ferry to Otis Clay would later cover it, but none quite captured that mix of frustration and hope that Joe did on the original.
Joe South doesn’t get enough credit in the conversation about 60s/70s singer-songwriters. He wasn’t flashy, but was saying something worth hearing. The song peaked at #12 on the Billboard 100, #10 in Canada, #11 on the Canada Country Charts, and #56 on the Billboard Country Charts in 1970.
Joe South is personal to me because of his connection to my family. He recorded some in my uncle’s studio. This is from 1964.
Walk A Mile In My Shoes
If I could be you, if you could be meFor just one hourIf we could find a wayTo get inside each other’s mind
If you could see you through my eyesInstead of your egoI believe you’d beSurprised to seeThat you’ve been blind
Walk a mile in my shoesWalk a mile in my shoesAnd before you abuse, criticize and accuseWalk a mile in my shoes
Now, your whole worldYou see around youIs just a reflectionAnd the law of KarmaSays you gonna reapJust what you sow, yes you will
So unless you’ve lived a lifeOf total perfectionYou better be careful of every stoneThat you should throw, yeah
And yet we spend the day throwing stonesAt one another‘Cause I don’t think or wear my hairThe same way you do
Well, I may be common peopleBut I’m your brotherAnd when you strike out and try to hurt meIt’s hurtin’ you, Lord have mercy
Walk a mile in my shoesWalk a mile in my shoesHey, before you abuse, criticize and accuseWalk a mile in my shoes
There are people on reservationsAnd out in the ghettosAnd brother, thereBut for the grace of GodGo you and I, yeah, yeah
And if I only had the wingsOf a little angel, yeahDon’t you know I’d flyTo the top of the mountainAnd then I’d cry, hey
Walk a mile in my shoesWalk a mile in my shoesHey, before you abuse, criticize and accuseBetter walk a mile in my shoes
Walk a mile in my shoesWalk a mile in my shoesOh, before you abuse, criticize and accuseWalk a mile in my shoes, yeah…
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